Seminal gold content in healthy fertile men in India

OBJECTIVE: Since centuries Ayurveda, mentions the role of gold in the treatment of male infertility ‘Swarna Bhasma’ (Ash of gold) has been used with good results by Ayurvedic practitioners in the treatment of infertility. Hence, a study was planned to estimate gold in whole semen by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Whole semen from 11 healthy males of proved fertility from Lucknow (India) was analyzed for gold content by Atomic Absorption spectrophotometry at wavelength 242.8 nm with Hollow Cathode Gold Lamp. Prior to analysis, all the samples were subjected to digestion procedure, achieved by treating them with mixture of concentrated Nitric acid and concentrated Perchloric acid in 6: 1 ratio. OBSERVATION: On analysis all semen samples were found to contain gold ranging from 0.36 to 1.98 μg/ml with a mean value of 0.88 μg/ml and a standard deviation of 0.51 μg/ml. CONCLUSION: In the present study, gold was estimated after complete digestion (oxidation of organic matters; hence, whatever amount of gold detected, denotes the levels in seminal plasma as well as the sperm itself) in whole semen (seminal plasma and sperm). It seems that the hypothesis made for presence of gold in sperm might be true. However, the literature available in this connection is very scanty and further studies are needed for scientific documentation of gold in male infertility.